Method of constructing pneumatic tires.



F. s. DICKINSON. METHOD OF CONSTRUGTING PNEUMATIC TIRES.

Patented Oct. 27, 1914.

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APPLICATION FILE!) OCT. 11 1912. 1,1 15,409.

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arren FREDERICK S.

DICKINSDN, OF NEW YORK, N.

METHOD Dill CONSTRUCTING PNEUMATIC TIRES.

1,1 t Z MFL Application filed October 11, 1912.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 725,246

To all whom. it inlay concern lie it known that LFnnonmcn S. Dronnx'sox, a citizen or thellnited States, and resident of New York, in the county and State oi New 'York, have invented certain new and-useful Improvements in Methods of Constructing Pneumatic Tires, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to methods of con structing pneumatic tires such as are now commonly used upon automobiles and other vehicles, and my improvements have particular relation to the elastic shoe or casin which constitutes the outer portion and tread of the tire and incloses the inner air "tube. Such shoes or casings comprise a body ronstituted'by layers of textile fabric held in cohesion by caoutchouc or rubber and carrying an external portion constituting the tread..

in the method of constructing such tire casings, as heretofore employed, the

fabric body has been built up from a pl.u-'

ra'lity of separate layers or plies of textile fabric, to produce the required thickness,-

cach layer being made up of separate strips spliced together at lap joints. The fabric adapted "for the purpose is woven with warp and woof threads in straight lines, and owing to its limitations in standard Width it has been necessary to cut on the bias to produre the required length of strips which are lapped and spliced together at their ends to form the individual layers or plies from which the body fabric of the tire casing is built up. The separate fabric layers 01 lapped and joined strips havebeen built up in laminated or superposed order to pro duce the desired body thickness of fabric.

The employment of lapped and spliced joints in the fabric layers, and the employment of separate layers of fabric, in the tire casings as now generally constructed, is open to many disadvantages. The con struction is cxpensii'e and requires much time and labonand the lapped joints produce a point of extreme weakness at which blow'outs usually occur, this being due to the excess thickness and strength at such jointdap, which prevents the uniform absorption of the shuflling" action of the separate strands throughout the entire body of the fabric. under the elastic action of the tire when in use and abruptly checks the same at the line of such jointithus causing a sawing action between the strands and resulting in a break at the line of the joint.

watch;

A further difficulty .is encountered in uniting the separate superposed layers or plies oi' fabrics at all points over their respective surfiices. In the prior method of construction, as above set forth, caoutchouc or rubber is-appl ied betweentheseparate fabric layers to secure cohesion in the body fabric, and this has been accomplished by pressing the rubber upon thesurface of the fabric layer as it is passed through calender rolls. The greater pressure-necessarily applied in the rolls tends to the closely-woven fabric, thus closing the open mesh and precluding the entrance of the rubber within the mesh. It is desirable to impregnate the-mesh of the fabric with the friction rubber. but the mere skin coating resulting from the application oil the rubber by calender rollsdoes not penetrate the pores orniesh of the fabric and-forms only a cohesive bond.v between the surfaces ot the separate layers of fabric. -Consequently, the threads or strands of the respective layersof fabric are subject to a sawing movement under the elastic action of the tire, whichmaterially reducesdurability. Furthermore, the requisite high compression upon the fabric in'the calender rolls fractures or impairs the overlapping threads or strands, thus initially causing points of weakness and a high percentage of loss in the e'iiective service or life of the tire. In the prior method of construction, in which the fabric body of the tire casing is built up from separate layers of fabric, the fabric must be stretched or distorted to produce the required curvatures in the shape or contour of the segmental crosssection and annular or ring. form of the complete shoe or casing, and this stretching or distortion further weakens any distended threads or strands and produces inequalities .under which the nonmniformity in the torsional status and structural condition of the different strands, some being distended and others highly compressed, permits of a. greater degree of shuiiiing. movement of the strands and a tendency to work upon each other with a sawing action when the tire is in use, which action of the strands is transmitted from layer to layerandnlticauses a, break through theentire body fabric, this being another frequent cause of blowouts. the method of building up the body fabri from separate layers of superposed or lamillatented @ct. 2T1, Millet.

Furthermore, ,under A flatten out the threads of pregnate the entire after described and natcd fabric. uniformity of torsion does not exist throughout the body fabric, as the torsional strength will layers, and thus air pockets are produced and estal'ilish an area at which there is no bond between the separate layers. These air pockets cause wrinkles forming ridges bearing against the nest-layer and result in the gradual separation of the different layers and consequent material reduction in durability.

The object of my improved method of constructing the casings ofpneun'iatic tires is to overcome all. of thecopd-itions and disadvantages above set forth and to produce a simple and improved shoe or Teasing which will possess maxiihum advantagesin point of uniformity throughoitt the body fabric, strength, durability, and ge i'ieral eliiciency.

A further object of my improyed method is to simplify and effect; economy in the manufacture of the tire casing.

To these ends, the improved method consists in wearing or constructing the body fabric in a unitary endless fabric conforming to the shape or contour of the annular and segmental cross-section body of the easing, and with the plurality of layers or plies of the fabric interwoven or directly connected, and the method further comprises the impregnation of said unitary endless textile body fabric avith caoutchouc or rubber by a vacuum process or under conditions in which the textile fabric is not subjected to pressure, whereby the caoutchouc will imunitary fabric between each ply and between all the threads or strands and in all the spaces of the fabric mesh and produce a homogeneous textile and caoutchouc body, substantially as hereinparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, l have illustrated a pneumatic tire of a type to which my improvements relate and have shown a casing as constructed according to my improved method and embodied in such tire.

' In the illustration Figure 1 is a crosssection through a pneumatic tire of a type to which my improved method of constructing the shoe or casingrelates. Fig. 2 is a detail section, on an enlarged or magnified scale, on a plane transverse of one form of the body fabric as constructed according to my improved method. Fig. 3 is a detail section corresponding to Fig. 2, on a plane longitudinal of the body fabric. Fig. lis an out line View, showing a transverse cross-section of the body fabric and a part of the longi tudinal extent thereofin perspective, as said fabric is finished according to my improved method and ready for assembling in the tire an outline View illussection of the body shown in Fig. 4 as com construction. Fig. is tratmg a longitudinal fabric of'the form vary in the diflerenting has the terminal nuance or ring contour in the tire concasing, which comprises the and elastic external portion tread,s3, which casing incloses the inner air tube, 4'. and is held in connection with the wheel rim, I have herein illustrated a one of the types to which the unitary body fabric constructed according to my improved method is adapted, and in this type the cas edge or baseportions, 5, of its segmental cross-sectional contour clenched within the edge flanges of the rim 5, said portions 6 conforming to the internal contour of the rim 5 and being for this purpose enlarged by separation of the layers or plies of the body fabric to form a pocket within which is inclosed a continuous strip of hard rubber, as at 7. i In the method of constructing the body fa. ric 2, as comprised in my present improvements, the fabric is Woven or constructed as a unitary endless textile body fabric conforming to the annular and segments. cross-section shape of contour of the shoe or casing and with a plurality of superposed layers or'plies which are interwoven or directly connected together. I have herein illustrated one preferred form of such unitary multiple-ply body fabric as produced by my improved method of construction, in which, each layer or ply is composed of interwoven warpand woof threads or strands, 8 and 9, such strands of the respective layers or plies being at different points or intervals interwoven with the threads strands of the next adjoining layer or ply, as at 10, whereby all the layers or plies are connected in a homogeneous unitary body fab ric. But it will be understood that the details of Weaving the unitary multiple-ply body fabric produced under my improved method may be varied to produce any other adapted weave or construction embodying the essential features as herein set forth; for instance, the unitary body fabric may be constructed with a supplementary weave connecting the respective layers or plies, or the latter may be connected by tying the threads or strands of adjoining plies together, or by any textile construction in the tire shoe or fabric body, 2, constituting the which the respective layers or plies are diunitary endless body clencher tire, which is unitary multiple-ply bodyfabric as constructed under my improvedmethod, the warp and woof threads extend iii-straight lines transversely and longitudinally of the tire casing, as herein shown, which condi- 70 Referring to the drawings, 1 designates application of high tion affords greater strength than when the llireads extond on the bias as in the construction heretofore employed in which the the bodv fabric are pieced layers or plies of from strips cut-on the bias from apiece of.

status throughout, the entire unitary fabric and obriates all the disadvantages and loss result from the of effective service which pieced separate-layer method of. construction hereto fore employed, as hereinbe'l'ore set forth, and the rmitury body fabric produced by my improved method is adapted for offectlve mpregnation as I a whole or'unit with caoutchouc or rubber without SUbJOCtlOH to high pressures to; apply cohesive skin coat:

ings, asin calender rolls, and thus predistortion of any of the The obviation of the pressure, as heretofore required in the method of constructing the casing,-a so enables the eludes stretching or threads or strands.

with cuoutchouc or rubber at all points within the mesh of the respective connected layers or plies and between thethreads or strands thereof as well as at all points between the layers or plies, as illustrated in Figs. 2'and'3,,thu's producing a uniform homogeneous body combining the textile layers or plies and the caoutchouc filling. v I r In my improved method of constructing the body fabric, body is impregnated with caoutchouc or rubber, to thoroughly combine the textile and caoutchouc filler,and the homogeneous impregnation of all parts of the body fabric without the application of pressure is enabled. by theunitary multiple-ply construc tion of the body fabric as produced by the first step of the improved method.

T he homogeneous impregnation of the unitary.multiplc-ply body fabric is preferably effected by any of the well-known vacuumprocesses, which exclude all air and dry, out all -moistr re, and in this preferred employment of the vacuum process of 1mpregnation it is simple nece sary to subject the complete unitary tirc-casing body fabric to the application of the 'aoutcliouc filler in Vacuum. whereby a thorough and effective cohesion of the respective connected lay rs or plies and of each thread or strand f the unitary fabric is secured without the distortion or stretching (ii-deterioration of the fabric such as necessarily results from the application of high pressures' But it will be understood that this step of my method, whereby the unitary body fabric is homogeneously impregnated, may be of fected in any suitable heat ofthe' vulcanizmg process willhcause choucbo'dy. It will the complete textile fabric or adapted manner, the textile and caoutthe homogeneous tire- .l orf' instance, the be-saturated with to thoroughly combine cihouc filler to produce casing body "fabric, threads 0 strands may jcaoutchouc or rubber before being woven the unitary nauapieply body fabric, and under the vulcanization; to which such body fabrics thereafter aresubjectcd *the the caoutch'ouccarried by the woven threads "orsfrands to niold into all parts ofthe mesh of'tl'ic respectiye plies and between the strands and between the plies and thus. produce the homogeneous textile and caout' be iunl'e'rstood. in this connection, that u'nderu'he hi pressure calender rolls applicationof the rubber to separate layers or plies of body fabric, as in the previous method of construction hereinbefore referred to, air and moisture are not thoroughly excluded, and therefore in the subsequent process of vulcaniziiigunder high heat the air or moisurc in the fabric body forms pockets and thus precludes proper cohesion between the layers or plies and rubber at all surface points, whereas under my improved method of construction the ada tability of the unitary'multiplerply body fa ric, as produced thereby, to a vacuum process of impregnation, thoroughly eliminates the presence of air or moisture at any point in the homogeneous body prior to the process of vulcanization.

After the unitary endless mul tile body fabric is produced and thoroughly impregnated with a caoutchouc filler to produce a uniform homogeneous textile and caoutchouc body, under my improved method of contruction, the complete carcass body for the tire casing thus formed is subjected to the usual 'ulcanizing process and embodied in the usual manner with the external portion. constituting the tread, to produce the complete tire shoe or using.

The general details of construction of the unitary body fabric as produced by my irnproved method of construction may be varied as desired with reference to the; type of tire to which the improvements are applied. If a clencher type of shoe or casing is employed, as'herein illustrated, the base edge; 1 portions 6 of the unitary endless body fabric a re interwoven with the main segmental cross-section body, in like manner and preferably with a lesser number of connect-ed layers or plies, to form the continuous inner wall or extension, as at 11, of the base socket, and to form a continuous flap or extension, as at 12. which is adapted to be folded inwardly, after the rubber core 7 has been seated in position between the wall or extension 11 and said flap or extension 12, to form the bottom wall of the base socket, and have its terminal edge connected in the usual manner with the edge of the wall or exten- 'si on 11', as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. v

I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to the detail features of the method of construction as herein illustrated and described, as it is manifest, that-variations therein may beresorted to in the adaptation of the method of construction to varying-conditions according to the type of pneumatic tire casing to which the unitary multiple-ply body fabric is to be applied, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention ,and improvements. 1 thereforereservetlieright to all such variations and modifications as properly fall within the;sc'o'f)e of my invention and the terms of the following claims;

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

.1. The method of constructing the internal textile body fabric or carcass for the shbe or-casing of pneumatic tires, which consists in weaving the body of said carcass initially in .the contour of an endless annular and segmental cross-section ring conforming tothe contour of the elastic body of the shoe or casingwithin which it is to be embedded, with-all its'threads or strands initially in normal relationship to said body contour, and then impregnating said textile body unit while in its initial normal contour and with all its threads or strands in normal relationship thereto with a caoutc houc filler Without distortion of any part of its initial woven body contour and without stretching or distortion of any of its threads or strands.

' 2. The method of constructing a shoe or casing for pneumatic tires, which consists in weaving the textile body fabric or carcass initially in the normal contour of an endless initially in normal relationship to'said body w contour, and as a homogeneous textile unit in normal condition for placementin association with the elastic body of the shoe or casing, and uniting said textile body unit with the elastic body of the shoe or casing structure without distortion of any part oi? its initial woven normal bodv contour and without stretching or distortion of any of its threads or strands.

3. The method of constructing a shoe or casing for pneumatic tires, which consists in Weaving the textile body fabric or carcass initially in the contour of an endless annular and segmental cross-section ring conforming to the contour of the elastic body of the sh oc or casing Within which it isto be embedded, with all. its threads or strands initially in. normal relationship to said body contour, then applying to said textile body unit while in its initial normal contour and with all its threads or strands in normal relationship thereto a caoutchouc filler and then uniting said homogeneous textile and caoutchouc body carcass with theelastic body of the shoe or casing structure without distortion of any part of its initial Woven body contour and without stretching or distortion of any of its threads or strands.

In witness whereof I have signed my name in the presence of the subscribing Witnesses.

' FREDERICK DICKINSON.

Witnesses ARTHUR B. KELLY- Jos. REED LITTELL. 

